Atlas Corps is thrilled to announce Ms. Nina Vaca as the recipient of the 2021 Atlas Corps Global Changemaker Award. Ms. Vaca receives this honor in recognition for her innovative leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and inspiration in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This award will be given as part of the Atlas Corps 15th Anniversary Gala on November 20, 2021.
“As an organization dedicated to opening the door of opportunity to international talent, Atlas Corps celebrates the trailblazing talents of Ms. Nina Vaca. She continues to inspire with her ongoing innovations and her personal story is one that resonates well with our global community,” shared Abby Robinson, acting CEO, Atlas Corps.
The Atlas Corps Global Changemaker Award recognizes an impactful leader who has set the standard on enacting significant social change through entrepreneurship and paving new pathways to advance global diversity, equity, and inclusion. Past honorees include former Secretary of State Dr. Madeleine K. Albright (2020), author Dr. Rohini Anand (2019), entrepreneur Nathalie Molina Nino (2018), and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines (2017).
“I am humbled and delighted to be honored among this group of such outstanding international leaders! My own life journey has been deeply inspired by international exchange, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share that inspiration with others. I am thankful for this recognition and excited to be able to align my vision with the Atlas Corps deep commitment to creating opportunity through innovation,” remarked Ms. Vaca.
The Atlas Corps 15th Anniversary Gala (15.atlascorps.org) is a hybrid event that includes a black-tie optional affair and virtual engagement. The Gala will take place on November 20, 2021, at Eaton Hotel. In addition to Ms. Vaca, the Gala is hosted by Ambassador Calderón of Colombia and the attendees will include leaders from the government, nonprofit, and private sectors.
About Nina Vaca
Nina Vaca is Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group, a Latina-owned global workforce solutions provider named fastest-growing woman-owned company in the country twice in the last six years. The workforce solutions industry has recognized Nina’s leadership repeatedly, including her in the Global Power 150 – Women in Staffing list for six consecutive years. In addition to her work with Pinnacle, Nina is one of the few Latinas in the nation serving on the boards of publicly traded companies. Nina also serves as a civic leader and philanthropist, working relentlessly to expand opportunities for minorities and women in business. In 2014, she was appointed by the White House as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Nina is also a German Marshall Fellow, a British American Project Fellow, a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, and in 2019 joined the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a recipient of the coveted Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Goldman Sachs Most Intriguing Entrepreneur award, and was recognized by the SIA in their inaugural list of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Influencers.
About Atlas Corps
Profiled as a “best practice” in international exchange by the Brookings Institution and World Economic Forum, featured in the Washington Post and Forbes as a model social entrepreneurship program, and recognized as a Top 10 International Voluntary Exchange Program by the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, Atlas Corps engages global social change leaders in 12-month, professional fellowships at organizations (like American Express, Ashoka, Peace Corps, and American Red Cross) or in a virtual training to learn best practices, build organizational capacity, and return home to create a network of global changemakers. Fellows supplement this “real-world application” through participation in the Atlas Corps Global Leadership Lab—a management training executed by Deloitte that teaches the basics of civil society leadership and conflict resolution. The Atlas Corps global community includes more than 1,100 leaders from 110 countries and 300 Host Organizations in the United States, Australia, Colombia, and Malaysia. The result, a network of social change leaders empowered by leadership development and cross-cultural exchange in the United States that is prepared to support ongoing development in their home countries.
